USA > Vermont > History of eastern Vermont, from its earliest settlement to the close of the eighteeth century with a biographical chapter and appendixes > Part 70
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HISTORY OF EASTERN VERMONT.
" Judge Sabin was a man of sound mind, of a placid temper, and manifested upon all occasions that urbanity of deportment which commanded the love and respect of his acquaintance. He was an early settler of the town [of Putney], and ever took an active interest in its civil and religious concerns. He was more than forty-seven years a magistrate, and sustained for many years the office of judge of probate, and other offices, with honor to himself, and with usefulness to the public. He discharged the duties of office with such firmness and fidelity as to escape with a much less share of censure than is common in like cases.
" As a Christian, he appeared humble and unostentatious, steady and uniform in his principles and practice. He seemed always to love religion, and to be governed by a sacred regard for its doctrines and duties. It appeared to be his stay in the closing scenes of life. He was resigned to the will of God and ready to depart at His bidding. He was willing to be absent from the body, and to go to be present with the Lord."*
-
PAUL SPOONER
WAS for many years actively engaged in advancing the inte- rests of Vermont, and enjoyed the fullest confidence of the people of that state. He was a member of the Council from 1778 to 1782, when he was chosen lieutenant-governor of the state. In this position he was continued until the year 1786. He was a judge of the Su- preme court in 1779, 1780, and from 1782 to 1788. During the years 1781 and 1782 he served as judge and register of probate for Windsor county. In the year 1779 he was the town-clerk of Hartland in Windsor county, and having subse- quently removed to Hardwick, in Caledonia county, was chosen the first clerk of that town in 1795. During the years 1797, 1798, and 1799, he represented the citizens of Hardwick in the General Assembly of the state. Of the respect with which the
* Brattleborough Messenger, December 21st, 1827, vol. vi. No. 47.
699
JONATHAN STEARNS.
early officers of Vermont were treated, the following incident affords a good example. On one occasion the Rev. Elisha Hut- chinson, the first minister of Pomfret, Vermont, was preaching a sermon at Hartland, in a private house, when Mr. Spooner entered the room. Pausing in the midst of his discourse, the reverend minister informed his audience that he had " got about half through" his sermon, but as Governor Spooner had come to hear it, he would begin it again. Then turning to a wo- man who sat near him, he said, " My good woman, get out of that chair and let Governor Spooner have a seat, if you please !" Mr. Spooner was accommodated, and Mr. Hutchinson repeated the first part of his sermon, much to the edification, it is sup- posed, of those who had already heard it .*
JONATHAN STEARNS.
PRIOR to the Revolution, Jonathan Stearns was engaged in the practice of the law in the eastern portion of the New Hamp- shire Grants, and was generally regarded as a man of ability. In an account presented at New York on the 5th of May, 1775, by some of the officers of the court, it was stated that he " was in the unhappy event that happened between the posse of the county of Cumberland and a body of rioters," at Westminster, on the 13th of March previous. In company with Samuel Knight, who was also a lawyer of that county, "he happily escaped the fury of the mob and went immediately to Boston." On his arrival in that city, "General Gage advised him to repair to New York with the utmost expedition, to give infor- mation to government of the state of the county." He reached New York on the 29th of March, and having presented an ac- count of the affray, of which he had been a partial witness, was reimbursed the expenses of his journey, to the amount of . £7 18s. He subsequently removed to Nova Scotia, and was attorney-secretary of that province.t
* Deming's Cat. Vt. Officers, p. 75, et passim.
t Council Minutes, in office Sec. State N. Y., 1765-1783, xxvi. 435. The Ran- gers, by D. P. Thompson, ii. 93. See ante, p. 674.
700
HISTORY OF EASTERN VERMONT.
MICAH TOWNSEND,
Mi'cah Tonnoend
WHOSE name has fre- quently occurred in these pages as a corre- spondent of Gov. George Clinton, deserves to be held in re- membrance as one of those worthy fathers of Vermont, whose sterling virtues and wisdom, and indomitable courage, carved out and shaped the destiny of that state, amid scenes of con- vulsion at home and abroad. The influence which he exer- cised and the service which he rendered, at a period in the state's history when education was at a low ebb, though not of that bold and dazzling kind which characterizes the deeds of military heroes, and on which contemporary historians so often delight to seize to spice their pages, and keep alive the momen- tary excitement, were valuable and duly appreciated by those engaged with him in perfecting the organization of Vermont. Though in principle and habit an emphatical lover of peace, he was a sincere patriot, having the true interests of his coun- try deeply at heart.
Henry Townsend, the first of the family who settled in Ame- rica, came from England to Long Island previous to the year 1687. His son Micajah Townsend having married Elizabeth Platt, their son the subject of this notice was born at Cedar Swamp, Oyster Bay, Long Island, on the 13th of May, 1749, O.S. After pursuing the studies commonly taught in elemen- tary schools, and others under the guidance of a neighboring clergyman preparatory to a collegiate course, he entered at the age of fourteen the college of Nassau Hall in Princeton, New Jersey, during the presidency of Dr. Elihu Spencer. At the end of four years, having completed the usual course of acade- mic studies he proceeded Bachelor of Arts on the 8th of Octo- ber, 1766, and during the presidency of Dr. John Witherspoon proceeded Master of Arts on the 5th of October, 1769. On leaving college in 1766, he immediately commenced the study of the law, in the office of the Hon. Thomas Jones, a distin- guished barrister and attorney in the city of New York, and subsequently a justice of the Supreme court of the province of New York. Having continued this pursuit for the term of four years, he was admitted to the practice of the law on the 6th of
701
MICAH TOWNSEND.
April, 1770, by a commission under the hand and seal of the Hon. Cadwallader Colden, lieutenant-governor of the colony ..
Soon after his admission to the bar, he established himself in his profession at the White Plains, in Westchester county, where he remained until after the commencement of the war of the Revolution. Attached by conviction and by principle to the cause of the colonies, he freely lent his efforts to advance that cause .. He served as clerk of the Westchester county com- mittee of safety, and on the: 22d. of June, 1776, was appointed to the command of a company of militia in that county, con- taining fifty men, including officers, which had been raised to defeat the machinations of the Tories who abounded in that region. On the 25th of July following, he was ordered to take post at the mouth of Croton river, and continued on duty in and about that locality until the end of October. On the night of the 1st of November, it became evident to General Wash- ington, that the British were preparing to take possession of the heights in the neighborhood of the White Plains, which he then held with his troops. In order to gain a more secure posi- tion, he broke up his camp, and having previously set fire to the houses in the White Plains and the neighborhood, removed his forces to a. more mountainous region, in the vicinity of North Castle. The destruction of the village where he had at first entered upon the active duties of life, was doubtless the immediate cause which led Mr. Townsend to seek in the inte- rior of the country a residence less exposed to the disturbances of that exciting period. Removing to the beautiful village of Brattleborough, he was soon surrounded by friends, and on the 15th of August, 1778, married. Mary, a daughter of Col. Sa- muel Wells.
In the controversy which at this time raged with peculiar ani- mosity in the south-eastern portion of Vermont, Mr. Townsend, at the first, sided with the supporters of the New York jurisdic- tion, and was in constant communication with Governor Clin- ton. His letters, extracts from which have been given in the body of this work, were always prepared with accuracy, ex- pressed. in well-chosen language, and engrossed in a chiro- graphy of singular beauty. He was frequently entrusted with the conduct of important negotiations between the provincial government of New York and its supporters in Vermont, and never failed to perform his duty in a manner which gave the
702
HISTORY OF EASTERN VERMONT.
completest satisfaction. In the supply bill passed by the Legis- lature of New York on the 4th of November, 1778, the sum of £60 was appropriated to him, in payment of his “ex- pences in attending upon the Legislature, on the business of quieting the disorders prevailing in the north-eastern parts of the state."
The share which he had taken in military affairs while at the White Plains, had secured for him the enmity of the Tories who infested that part of the country, and, when occasion offered, they did not fail to clothe this feeling in deeds. In the year 1781, having obtained permission from Governor Clinton to visit Long Island, he performed the journey, but in a letter to the Governor, written at Fishkill, on the 16th of May, 1781, while on his way home, he informed his Excellency that he had met with, abuse in the city of New York from the Westchester refugees ; had been "once carried before his Worship," the British mayor of that city ; and had been obliged to take a dif- ferent route on his return, to avoid his " old enemies," who were lying in wait to take him. "A thousand pounds," said he, " would not tempt me to a similar visit."
Having come to the conclusion, after an honest and careful review of the circumstances, that New York would never be able to substantiate her claim to the New Hampshire Grants, or to enforce her laws in that district, he took the oath of alle- giance to and became a citizen of Vermont. In the practice of his profession, though not distinguished as an eloquent advo- cate, he possessed, what was of more value than eloquence, the estimation of the community for integrity. By reason of his legal attainments and the soundness of his judgment, he was esteemed the first lawyer in the state, and during the twenty- four years of his residence in Brattleborough, his practice was successful and profitable. At this place, his children, five daughters and three sons, were all born. In the year 1781, he was chosen judge and register of probate for Windham county, and held those offices until the year 1787.
The constitution of Vermont, which had been established by a convention on the 2d of July, 1777, was never submitted to the people for popular discussion, lest in those critical times, when unanimity was the only strength, its consideration should create disunion. Having been acted upon, as an experiment, for eight years, it was found to admit of so many practical abuses that its revision was regarded as imperative. This duty
703
APPOINTED SECRETARY OF STATE FOR VERMONT.
devolved upon a council of censors, who were chosen from the ablest men in the state for this specific purpose, and of this council Micali Townsend was the secretary. Their sessions were held at Norwich in June, 1785, at Windsor in September and October following, and at Bennington in February, 1786. All the members of this body, doubtless, participated in the dis- cussions of the various points embraced in the work they had in hand, and justly shared in the honor of the labor. But their secretary alone, could mould and shape the honest but crude suggestions, into the clear and explicit form of legislative pro- cedure. The discriminating acumen acquired by his legal education, gave him an ability in drafting judicial and legisla- tive documents, which was then as important as it was rare, and was duly appreciated by such men of his associates as the Hon. Messrs. Marvin, Robinson, Mosely, Walbridge, Marsh, Jacob, and Hunt.
In the year 1781, Mr. Townsend was called to fill the office of secretary of state, under the administration of the Hon. Thomas Chittenden, and was continued in that station by annual election until 1788. While occupying this position, his habits of promptitude and regularity enabled him, by reforming the looseness and confusion which had prevailed in the department, to establish system and order. By these means, access to the records was rendered easier, and the facilities for the dispatch of business were increased.
Pending the controversy between New York and Vermont, Micah Townsend was, on the 10th of July, 1784, arrested in the city of New York, by Seth Smith, " solely for his officiating in the line of his duty as clerk of the county court of Windham county," and was obliged to give bail in the sum of £2000 for his appearance. The matter having been laid before the Gene- ral Assembly of the state, an act of indemnity was passed at the next session of the Legislature, by which commissioners were appointed to sell lands in the state of Vermont, belonging to citizens of New York, until money enough should be raised from the sales, to reimburse Mr. Townsend all the expenses consequent upon his arrest.
For domestic reasons Mr. Townsend resigned his state secre- taryship in 1788, much to the regret of all persons connected with the government. On tendering to the Legislature the seals of his office, the event was noticed by the House in the following complimentary resolution :-
704
HISTORY OF EASTERN VERMONT.
"In General Assembly, 21st October, 1788.
" Resolved, that this House having accepted the resignation of Micah Townsend, Esqr., late Secretary of this State, feel themselves obliged to express the warmest sentiments of grati- tude to that gentleman, for the fidelity and skill with which he has discharged the duties of his said office. That it is with re- luctance we consent that an officer of state of his ingenious ac- complishments, which have been so faithfully and to so general satisfaction exerted for the public good, should so soon retire from the station he has filled with advantage to the state, and honor to himself."
His services were rendered with great fidelity, and were left to the judgment of those for whom he labored, without any subsequent effort to bring them into notice. The estimation in which they were held by a. man whose memory will ever be fresh in the hearts of the inhabitants of Vermont, affords addi- tional evidence of their value. "In the year 1835, I was in Middlebury," writes his son, the Rev. Canon Townsend, " and called upon the Hon. Nathaniel Chipman, an early friend of my father, from whom I learned the high estimation in which he was held for his integrity, the clearness of his intellect, and his legal attainments. This opinion he illustrated by saying, " The state of Vermont would this day have been far wiser and richer could she have retained his services from the time of his resignation to the present, at a salary of ten thousand dollars per annum.' "
He now retired from all public business to the bosom of his family, residing still in Brattleborough until the year 1801, when he disposed of his estate at that place to the Hon. Royall Tyler, and with his family dwelt in Guilford for one year. In the spring of 1802 he removed to the township of Farnham, Lower Canada, where a grant of land had been made by the British government of twelve hundred acres to each of the children of Col. Samuel Wells, as a compensation for the losses sustained by their father during the revolutionary war. He lived here in retirement, devoted to domestic and religious du- . ties until 1816, when he changed his residence to Clarenceville, that he might spend the evening of his life with his son, the Rev. Micajah Townsend. Although for many years he had intended not to engage again in public business, yet as his
705
REVIEW OF HIS CHARACTER.
health was good and his faculties unimpaired, he yielded to the solicitation of the people to make himself useful among them as a justice of the peace, and from the Governor, the Earl of Dalhousie, he received the appointment of judicial commis- sioner for the trial of small causes. At length admonished by the infirmities of age, he resigned these offices, and filled up his ; time in gardening, reading, and meditation.
In the year 1831 he was called to part with the faithful wife of his youth, who died on the 27th of June, at the age of seventy-one, in the peace and joy of Christian hope. To her he had been united for more than half a century, and he mourned her loss with deep sorrow and a chastened submission. Her departure was regarded by him as a solemn premonition of his own decease, at no distant period, and this presentiment was soon verified, for he survived her but ten months. About the middle of the following spring he was attacked with chills and fever, and on the 23d of April, 1832, his mortal life termi- nated at the age of about eighty-three.
He was a member of the Masonie fraternity, and, according to the certificate of lodge No. 2 of the province of New York, was elevated to a Master Mason's degree on the 14th of June, 1770. His moral character was marked for its truthfulness, integrity, justice, and honesty. His mind was stored with va- ried and extensive knowledge. His style of writing was plain, classical, and elegant. His business habits were characterized with system, order, and correctness. His disposition was mild, amiable, and forgiving. His personal deportment was dignified yet unforbidding, and his manners graceful, polished, and gen- tlemanly. For the last thirty years of his life, his daily prac- tice was to retire for an hour at twilight for meditation and prayer, and yet his personal piety which was thus sustained, and was further evinced by a constant attendance on public worship and communion in the Episcopal church, of which he had been from youth a member, was of a meek and un- obtrusive character, commending itself more by deeds than words.
Though his physical activity was abated by age, his bodily health was unimpaired, and his sight and hearing, and appetite for food and sleep undiminished. His mental powers, upheld by the habit of reading, had lost but little of their vigor, and he could compose and write with his customary ease and per- spicuity up to the time of his last illness. His remains were
45
706
HISTORY OF EASTERN VERMONT.
deposited by the side of those of his wife, in the cemetery of the parish of St. George, Clarenceville, Lower Canada .*
AMOS TUTE.
THE name of Amos Tute appears first as connected with the settlements bordering the banks of the Connecticut river, in a muster roll of a company of rangers commanded by Capt. John Burk, who were stationed at Hinsdale's Fort, in the year 1757. He was one of the earliest inhabitants of the town of Vernon, and, for the period in which he lived, was a man of wealth and influence. In the year 1755, Mrs. Jemima Howe, who was af- terwards known as the "Fair Captive," was taken prisoner by the Indians, and carried to Canada. On her return she became the wife of Mr. Tute. In 1768, Mr. Tute, by a commission from Cadwallader Colden, Lieutenant-governor of the province of New York, was appointed, on the 7th of April, a coro- ner for Cumberland county, and held that office until the breaking out of the revolutionary war. The inquest on the body of William French, who was shot at the Westminster. Massacre, was held before him, and his name appears on the paper which declared the result of this investigation.
To those curious in epitaphic lore, the following inscription may not prove uninteresting. It is copied from the stone which marks the grave of his son Jonathan, in the burial ground at Vernon, and was probably composed by the Rev: Bunker Gay, of Hinsdale, New Hampshire.
Memento Mori.
Here lies cut down like unripe Fruit A Son of Mr Amos Tute
* Many of the facts contained in this notice were supplied by the Rev. Canon Micajah Townsend, of Clarenceville, Lower Canada, the only surviving son of Micah Townsend. The other sources consulted are, the George Clinton Papers, in N. Y. State Lib., vol. viii. doc. 2397; vol. xii. doc. 3718. Petitions in office Sec. State N. Y., xxxiii. 104. Journal N. Y. Prov. Cong., i. 503, 541, 744, 952; ii. 464. Laws of N. Y., Holt's ed., 1777-1783, p. 47. Barber's N. Y. Hist. Coll., ed. 1841, pp. 463, 598-601. Journal Gen. Ass. Vt., Oct. 1784, pp. 13, 29. Wil- liams's Hist. Vt., ii. 262. Slade's Vt. State Papers, pp. 491, 511, 516, 531. Dem- ing's Cat. Vt. Officers, passim.
707
AMOS TUTE.
And Mrs Jemima Tute his Wife Call'd Jonathan of Whose frail Life The days all Summ'd (how Short th' Account) Scarcely to fourteen years Amount Born on the Twelveth of May Was He In Seventeen Hundred Sixty Three To Death he fell a helpless Prey
April the Five & Twentieth Day
In Seventeen Hundred Seventy Seven Quitting this World We hope for Heaven But tho his Spirits fled on High His body mould'ring here muft lie Behold the amazing alteration
Effected by Jnoculation
The Means improv'd his Life to Save Hurr'ed him headlong to the Grave. Full in the Bloom of Youth he fell Alas What human Tongue can tell The Mothers Grief her Anguifh Show Or paint the Fathers heavier Woe Who now no nat'ral offfpring has His ample Fortune to poffefs To fill his Place Stand in his Stead Or bear his Name When he is dead So God Ordain'd, His Ways are Juft Tho Empires Crumble into Duft Life and the World Mere Bubbles are Set loofe to thefe, for Heaven prepare.
In the same grave-yard are deposited the mortal remains of Amos Tute. His memorial is in these words :-
In Memory of Mr. Amos Tute, who died April 17th 1790 in the 60th year of his Age.
Were I so Tall to Reach the Pole Or grasp the Ocean with my Span I must be measured by my soul The Mind's the standard of the Man.
708
HISTORY OF EASTERN VERMONT.
By his will Mr. Tute devised "a certain tract or farm of land, situate and being in Brattleborough," for the use of the schools in that town .*
ROYALL TYLER.
UNDER the colonial gov- ernment of Massachu- setts, the Hon. Royall Tyler, who resided in Boston, held several sta- tions of distinction. At that place his second son, the subject of this notice, was born, “in the neighborhood of Faneuil Hall," in the HOFFMAN GRICVER year 1758, and was at Royale Tyle_ first called Wil- liam Clark Tyler. On the death of his father, the name of the son was changed by an act of the Gen- eral court, and at the suggestion of his mother, to Royall Tyler, and under this name he entered Harvard College, at the early age of fourteen. While at this institution, he evinced a fondness for study and a readiness of apprehension which gave him a high position among the members of his class. His collegiate career was disturbed by the war of the revolution, but in spite of inter- ruption he maintained an honorable standing, and on gradu- ating in 1776, received the usual degree of B. A., and the ap- pointment of valedictorian. In the same year the B. A. degree was conferred upon him by Yale College, as an honorary dis- tinction. He proceeded Master of Arts at his own Alma Mater, in 1779, and received the same degree from the University of
* Acts and Laws of Vt., 1794, pp. 33, 34.
709
ROYALL TYLER.
Vermont in 1811. In 1802, he was chosen a member of the corporation of the latter institution, which position he held until 1813, and was professor of jurisprudence in the same seminary of learning from 1811 to 1814.
Soon after leaving college he studied law with Francis Dana of Cambridge. During the war he served for a short time as aide-de-camp to General Lincoln, and was engaged in the same capacity in the years 1786 and 1787, "when that officer com- manded the military force of Massachusetts, called out to sup- press the rebellion of Daniel Shays." "He was also deputed by Governor Bowdoin to the government of New York, to make arrangements for the delivery of Shays and his adher- ents to the authorities of Massachusetts, should they escape to that state." For the purpose of conducting similar negotiations with the government of Vermont, he was sent to the General Assembly of that state, during the month of October, 1786. His energy and enterprise in this emergency were of great value in leading the neighboring states to take efficient mea- sures in preventing the rioters from receiving external aid. After spending the years of his early manhood in the practice of the law, not only in Boston but in the neighboring towns, he removed to Vermont, and married Miss Palmer, the daughter of an old and valued friend. Becoming a citizen of Brattle- borough, he, in 1801, purchased the residence of Micah Town- send. His abilities as a lawyer and a man of learning were already extensively acknowledged, and he soon numbered among his friends many of the most able, polished, and social gentlemen of his adopted state.
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